In conventional rack-mounted electrical equipment, a cabinet has vertically spaced rack mountings and a back. Modular components are supported by corresponding rack mountings so that the components can slide into and out of the cabinet. To provide electrical power to the modular components, the cabinet back typically includes one or more continuously powered bus bars and/or back planes. Each modular component normally includes one part of an electrical power connector assembly to effect electrical energization when the component slides into the cabinet; the cabinet itself carries the corresponding mating part of the electrical power connector assembly.
In the past a commonly used connector has been a clip-type female electrical power connector. Typically, a female power connector is attached to the surface or an edge of a backplane of a piece of electrical equipment, the back plane thus functions as a power supply. The equipment module is slid into a rack usually adjacent to several other pieces of equipment. A complementary male power connector attached to the back of the rack is inserted into a female connector on the back of the equipment module as the module is pushed into the rack. In some configurations, the female connector is attached to the back of the rack while the male connector is carried by the equipment module. In either configuration, the connecting procedure is the same.
Existing electrical power connectors are typically rated for relatively low amperage unless they are quite large because they do not have enough material volume or other means to properly accommodate or dissipate the heat generated in high amperage power connections.